[sapir] GIRL'S PUBERTY CEREMONY 77 



hand or, as in the case of a canoe, is too cumbrous an object to be 

 easily handled at the potlatch, is well established among the West 

 Coast Indians. 



Some time in the course of the potlach, Tom, a blind and con- 

 servative old Tslica'atK Indian, delivered a rather long speech, in a 

 loud hoarse voice, thanking the hosts and explaining how they had the 

 right to the performance of the topati game that all had witnessed. As 

 his speech threatened to be too long, one of the women shouted out to 

 him that his daughter-in-law wanted to sing a llama song, whereupon 

 Tom submissively took the hint and rapidly brought his words to a close. 

 Thereupon old David, a small and rather decrepit Ts ! ica'af h, also began 

 to make a speech of thanks, but nobody listened to him and his voice was 

 soon drowned in the noise of singing and talking. These speeches of 

 thanks, it may be noted, are set affairs, the contents of which are more 

 or less rigidly prescribed by custom and varying somewhat according 

 to the family that the host addressed is a member of. Hence, as all the 

 Indians have generally heard these speeches any number of times, 

 their repetition is almost entirely a matter of form and but little 

 attention is paid to them. 



Towards the end of the potlatch tea and biscuits were served to all 

 on planks which had been put down on the ground before each. The 

 speaker announced that the names of the pubescent girl and of two of 

 her female relatives, her brother Hamilton George's infant daughter 

 and another brother's wife, had been changed. Her former name had 

 been Tênisô (apparently one of the stock of Coast Salish names that are 

 current among the Hopatclas'atH, who, according to reliable evidence, 

 once spoke a now extinct Salish language) ; the new name given to her 

 was Lûtïsmâyuh "makes the whirring noise (of the thunder-bird) 

 wherever she goes," a name which was said to have originally belonged 

 to the Makah Indians of Cape Flattery, Washington, the southernmost 

 Nootka tribe. The change of name of a pubescent girl at the puberty 

 ceremony is obligatory. Changes of name, whether for reasons of 

 taboo or otherwise, are regularly made public at the end of some feast or 

 potlatch in progress at the time. After the feast the Indians disbanded. 



This will serve to give an idea of the course of a typical puberty 

 ceremonial or '.aitstlola among the Nootka. The main features involved 

 are the "torch" and water-pouring ceremony with accompanying thunder- 

 bird or other dance, the distribution of the "torches," the performance of 

 one or more games which the father or guardian of the girl claims as a here- 

 ditary privilege, the singing of satirical ^!amâ songs of sexual content, a 

 potlatch given by the girl's people, and the assignment to her of a new 

 name. The details naturally differ considerably, partly owing to the 

 varying circumstances of each case (this would apply more particularly 



Sec. II, 1913—5 



